And another thing…

In the posting immediately before this one, I got lost in the focus on the Albuquerque City Council and their desire to plunge the city into further debt by chasing the silly dream of yet another Albuquerque “Event Center” that I forgot an important point directly related to the root of the whole story, specifically why city council wants to partner with APS:

Albuquerque Public Schools is about to drop some serious cash to turn a downtown church into a performing arts magnet school. The School board approved purchasing First Baptist Church near Central and Broadway for $11.3 million Wednesday night.

Questions abound from this revelation. First, where does APS have 11.3 million dollars to make this purchase? Each day in the news there is some story about how APS lacks necessary funding and therefore teachers and student needs are near the edge of the chopping block. These sob stories are specifically targeted to ensure that us dupe taxpayers acquiesce to ever rising property taxes and endless bond printing.

Next, what exactly is the purpose of creating a performing arts magnet school? What need is there to create a school with the purpose of what was once extracurricular activities? It’s bad enough that many schools in APS currently are well below average scores in tests relating to the types of skills (reading, writing and math) that actually lead to successful citizens, why they feel the need to provide a school dedicated to something that not many can make a career of is baffling.

Finally, why must this school be located in downtown Albuquerque where property values are among the highest in the city? If there is the budget to create a new magnet school, one specializing in something that just isn’t very useful, why compound how bad this sounds by spending the most money possible? It conveys the idea that the APS school board is tone deaf and does not see itself as accountable to the citizens of Albuquerque.